


Unlikely Pair

by x_somnio



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: High School AU, M/M, No worries, Punk, because emo baby nate is fantastic, but it's fine neither of them actually do it's okay, except also not - Freeform, pastel, punk/pastel au, self harm mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9891236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x_somnio/pseuds/x_somnio
Summary: Nate thought he'd be hopeless when he moved to a new school.--A punk/pastel (except not really) Natepat AU.





	

Nate spent the last few weeks of summer vacation before the first day at his new school cooped up in his room.

He didn't know anybody to skate with, nor did he even know if there was even a good skate park nearby. He often gazed longingly at his skateboard when dozing off or spacing out. Though he was plenty content playing and practicing music and playing video games, he was antsy.

Which was stupid, because the last thing he wanted right now was to meet and try to fit in at a new school. 

But Tuesday came quicker than he'd anticipated, and the first thing he did when he walked up to the front of the school was put up his hood. Every school was bound to have its rain cloud outcasts, so he simply hoped he'd blend in, go unnoticed, and come off as just another one of them.

Except he didn't.

He stood at the front of his History classroom, grimacing to himself as he pulled down his hood. He cursed everything, feeling his palms grow sweaty and his heart race  _already_.  _He hadn't even been asked to introduce himself yet._

All eyes were on him, this black, void mass of a human. 

Social anxiety ahoy.

"Everybody, meet Nathan! Why don't you introduce yourself?" The teacher beamed and gazed at him, clasping her hands together in glee. Nate felt an awkward, subtle disgust at her overly-saccharine schtick, but clenched his fists and forced himself to speak anyway. Well... tried to.

"U-uhm." 

He cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling his soul slowly wither.  _Jesus fucking Christ_ _,_ he thought to himself.  _I cannot wait to die. I literally want to die. I want to be ejected into the stratosphere and die--_

"I'm Nathan, but, uh... you can j-just call me Nate." He spat out awkwardly, grasping desperately at the hem of his hoodie.   
"Nice to meet you, Nathan!" His teacher bubbled. "Tell us something about yourself." He felt another part of him die.  _  
_ "Uh... I like music?" He felt his voice heighten with uncertainty.  
"Oh, none of that. Tell us what you like to do!" Nate felt like his heart was going to _burst out of his chest and fly back to Florida to drown itself in the sea._  
"I-I... I play guitar...?" He offered instead, shrinking away a little bit. 

The teacher clapped her hands again and gazed lovingly amongst the class. "Ooh, a musician! Well, everybody, make sure you treat him with respect! Oh, you can sit back down dear. Now, now, here's the course outline..."

By the end of the deathly awkward exchange, Nate felt the stiffness of his body and sat down slowly, pulling up his chair and staring down into his desk. He hunched over and let his forehead rest on the desktop, taking deep breaths and trying to regain those lost parts of his soul.

"You play guitar?" Someone beside him asked gently.

He looked to his side and saw someone dressed in pastel colours-- a white collared shirt with a cashmere pink sweater. He had dirty blond hair and curious brown eyes that bore through him. 

Nate simply stared back at this boy-- before registering his question and rushing for an answer.

"U-Uh, yeah, I do. I... write songs... sometimes." Nate replied, sitting up straight.   
  
The boy chuckled, and it was a gentle sound. He smiled at Nate and it was a kind sight. 

"You're awfully cute." He said, and Nate felt his heart skip a beat. He figured there must have been a visible reaction because the boy chuckled again.   
"A little shy, are we? My name's Matthew, you can just call me Matt, though." He said softly, looking at the papers once they came around. 

The teacher began a lecture and they were forced to listen and stop talking, but Nate decided that maybe he wouldn't be so hopeless at this new school after all.

* * *

"Why do you dress like that?" Nate asked as they got onto the bus together, Matt taking a few seconds to think as he sat down. He seemed to stop entirely, sort of like a computer program crashing and taking a couple of seconds to reboot. Nate couldn't come up with any other possible reasons than 'comfort,' to which he understood entirely.

Nate himself liked to dress in all black because most stereotyped loners were generally clad in all black and went unnoticed.

He loved it for the sake of his social anxiety.  
He loved it for the sake of his antisocial asshole self.  
  
_Sure,_ he'd get some comments thrown at him... and some other garbage thrown at him...

He's had his headphones yanked off by other kids and had them mock his music...  
He's had his beanie pulled off and thrown across the room...

... Some particular guys at his old school held his arms and pulled down his sleeves... They asked him _'where are your cuts, **emo**_ _ **?** ' _as they... laughed.

They taunted him about a habit he _never **dared** _ to even _think_ of burdening himself with but they _assumed_ he did because of how he _dressed_ \-- 

 _No, okay, let's not think about that._  Nate squared his shoulders and shook his head, ridding himself of those thoughts. He really needed to stop overthinking sometimes. _I like the black because then nobody bothers me. Simple as that._

"Y'know..." He added, looking about the bus. "In the pastel colours. I-I mean, I'm not saying in bad. In fact, it looks really nice on you--"  
"I don't know. I like to say comfort..." Matt began, leaning back into the seat. "... but it's brought me about as much comfort as all the people bullying me for it. Truthfully, I just like the style." He rubbed at his shoulder slowly, Nate figuring he was just feeling the softness of the cashmere. "I love the colours. They're nice, and gentle. I don't really pay any mind to the comments, as long as I like the style, I'll keep wearing it."

Nate nodded in agreement. "Same, though. I mean, you know the trope. Nobody bothers the kid dressed in all black." He forced a laugh. "But it's not like I'm actually depressed or anything, I just like it... oh. Actually, I don't know if you're the right person to ask about this, but, uh, do you know of any good places to skateboard nearby?" 

Matt cocked his head to the side, confused. "Uhm... No, I'm really not. But, uh... I think a park nearby has a skate park a little bit of ways away near the playground. I can take you there tomorrow if you'd like... oh, this is my stop. See you tomorrow!" He smiled, and Nate felt his heart skip a beat.

Nate waved as Matt stepped off of the bus and smiled again. 

Once he got home and reached his room, he dropped his things and gazed at his skateboard, leaning up against his wall beside his dresser.

He decided that maybe he'd skateboard to school tomorrow morning. 

* * *

"Okay, it's just around this corner... here!" Matt pointed forward, and Nate almost dropped his skateboard the moment he saw it.

There were tons of graffiti sprayed about along the slopes, half-pipes, and quarter-pipes, vibrant and eye-catching. There weren't any other skaters around, which meant right now, this was  _his_ personal playground. It was a slightly smaller area than the big one he'd gotten a lot of time with back in Florida, but beggars can't be choosers. 

"Well?" Matt sat down on a concrete slab and leaned back on his hands. "You came here for a reason, right?" His light grey jeans, pale purple Doc Martens and sweatshirt, and flower crown was a stark contrast to the punk-ish, rough chaos of the skate park, but Nate thought of it as a cool juxtaposition. Nate put down his skateboard and rolled it back and forth under his foot. 

"Okay, I'm just a teeny bit rusty because before I moved, I practiced every day, but it's been a few weeks since I stopped because of the move. So... if I fuck up, don't laugh, 'kay?" Nate said, grinning a little bit to himself.  
Matthew chuckled a bit at just his words. "Yes, of course, of course. I can't even stand on one of those things without losing balance and falling right off, so even if I laugh, I have much respect for you. You used to practice every day, for goodness' sakes. That's some dedication."  
"Yeah. It's the only other thing than my music I like to put a lot of time into." 

Nate removed his hoodie and placed it beside Matthew. "Here, my phone's in that pocket and I really can't afford to break that thing. Watch it for me, okay?" He brushed some of his hair out of his eye before standing back up and stretching, feeling his face grow a little warm while Matt looked at him with... a strange gaze in his eyes. 

He turned around and placed his foot back onto his skateboard, looking over the park at the top of a slope. "Alright. Here goes." 

Matt watched him kick off with such vigorous power he almost thought Nate would take off like a rocket. He could only hear the sound of the skateboard rolling along the concrete, and focused on the boy before him. He didn't know the names of any tricks whatsoever-- well, that was a lie, he certainly knew what a kickflip was-- _oh, there he goes, he pulled off that one relatively well._ Then up, skidding onto a pole that rose low, a few inches above the ground, the grinding noise slightly hurting his ears, but he was still fascinated. 

He leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands, watching the other boy intently. The best he himself was at balancing was gymnastics, but staying balanced while grinding along the side of a pole? He couldn't imagine how much practice it could have taken for Nate to perfect that. He never payed any special attention to skateboarding but he did have a considerable respect for the sport. He came up the--  _half-pipe, was it?_ \-- and flipped again, Matt thinking about how cute it was that he had to fix his hair mid-air, before he landed onto one of the poles again. He came off the pole and stumbled a little bit, Matt chuckling a bit about how that was cute, too, before he sort of tripped onto the ground. 

"Aw, and my momentum was so good, too!" Nate whined from the pit, pouting. Though he landed a little harshly onto his knees, he made no hissing sounds or pained groans, simply dusting himself off and picking his skateboard back up. 

Matt tried to stifle a laugh. 

"Hey, I told you, don't laugh!" Nate called to him as he walked up one of the slopes towards him again. Matt leaned back on his hands again.   
"I"m sorry, I couldn't help it!" Matt chuckled, grinning widely.   
"That's not all, though. I know more, but come on, I told you, I haven't practiced for a while! It's been two-- no." Nate stopped short and bit his lip, looking up in thought. "... Three? No? Three and a half? No. No, two and a half. Two and a half weeks since I last skated!"   
"I'd ask to try, but it'd probably look a little weird, I mean, look at me," Matt gestured to his outfit. "I'm dressed in super light colours. I can't afford to scrape my jeans up." 

Nate was the one trying to stifle a laugh this time.

"I mean, it's certainly a weird contrast for sure, but that doesn't mean you can't! I mean, there were some girls back at my old school who were as posh as you could make it, and they skated with their boyfriends all the time." He extended a hand. "Come on. Can't go wrong with the basics."   
Matt looked at his hand for a second before taking it. "I suppose you're right. I talked about not being able to stand one second on these things, but maybe that'll change."  
Nate brushed a few strands of hair out of his face and grinned. "There we go, that's the spirit!"

* * *

Nate was a much more vibrant, wonderful person when he came out of his shell. 

For the past week, Matthew found his excited rambling about all the things he liked endearing. He found the way his hair sometimes fell over his face cute. He found his chubby cheeks and dimples adorable. 

He wondered what else he would have missed out on had he not reached out to this socially anxious, yet talented mess of a boy a couple of weeks back, when school began.

This time, Matt was over at Nate's place for a change, the boy finally being comfortable enough for him to come over. Unlike Matt's room, which was minimalist at best, with few posters, a desk with polaroid photos of himself and his best friend hung above it, some neatly-kept bookshelves and his twin-sized bed, Nate's was vastly different.

There were posters, special plasters with concert dates scrawled all over them, photos, drawings, and other such scattered about Nate's walls. There was another wall from where a couple of guitars hung. There were a couple of papers on top of a small, twin-sized bed and  _Alternative Press_ magazine issues laying open on poster pages on top of his pillows. On the opposite wall stood a piano.

"Oh, hold on. Sorry." He picked up the papers and looked over them before placing them on the score holder on his piano. "That's practice for later. I'm so sorry about all this I have stuff everywhere and Jesus--"  
"Aw, come on, it's not that bad. I wanted to see you play guitar, not nitpick about your room." Matt said, seating himself on the small bed. 

Nate took his acoustic guitar down from the fixture on the wall and picked up a capo that lay atop a dresser beside a container. He clamped it onto the--  _second fret, was it?--_ and picked a guitar pick out from the container before sitting beside Matt. 

"Okay, so... I don't actually have any  _really_ finished songs yet that I'm comfortable really performing, so would a short little cover of a song suffice?" Nate asked, brushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes. Matt watched the bright bracelets on his wrist fall as he fixed his hair but nodded.  
"Sure! I understand not being confident enough to show me something like that yet. Sometimes music can be very personal." Matt turned his gaze back onto Nate himself and removed his cardigan, feeling his body grow... warm.

Nate strummed a few chords, likely warming up, before stopping, and clearing his throat. 

 _From the get-go I knew this was hard to hold,  
__Like a crash, the whole thing spun out of control.  
__Oh, on a wire, we were dancing,  
__Two kids, no consequences,  
__Pull the trigger, without thinking,_  
There's only one way down this road.

Matt could feel his heart start to pound a little harder, and his cheeks start to grow a little warm.  
  
_It was like a time bomb set into motion,  
__We knew that we were destined to explode.  
__And if I had to pull you out of the wreckage,_  
You know I'm never gonna let you go.

Matt grasped at the blankets under him and smiled.  
  
_We're like a time bomb._  
 _Gonna lose it, let's defuse it._  
 _Baby, we're like a time bomb._  
 _But I need it,_  
  
_Wouldn't have it any other way._

Nate stopped and put the pick down onto his knee and fixed his hair again before looking at Matt, who was looking at him with a bright smile on his face. "Wh-what?" Matt chuckled dreamily, and Nate could see a slight rosy tone to his cheeks.   
"You're... really talented." He said, before chuckling again. "You need to show me when you've finished one of your songs. If just your cover of a song was cool, then I can't imagine..." He grinned.  
Nate stood and put his guitar back, as well as dropping his guitar pick back into the container on the dresser. "Yeah, I'll definitely show you one when it's done. I'd finish it up now, but, I kind of like to work alone. Do you wanna play some games? My parents are gonna be out 'til maybe dinnertime tonight, if you'd like to stay until then. Unless you can't."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, my dad will be fine with it. I'll have to text him really quick though." He said, standing and following after Nate out of his room after grabbing his cardigan and pulling it taut around himself.  

"So what do you want to play? I have _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_..." He offered as they reached the living room.   
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Matt said excitedly as Nate went to power on the TV and the Wii. Nate took off his black hoodie and wrapped it around his waist before kneeling down. 

Matt seated himself on one of the couches and waited patiently, while Nate pulled out both a Wii controller and a Gamecube controller. "Which one, Wiimote or Gamecube?" He asked, shaking each in his hand as he mentioned them.  
He watched Matt place a hand on his chin in thought before walking up beside Nate and taking the Gamecube controller. "This one."  
"Alright, good choice. Now, where's my other one..." Nate murmured to himself, hearing Matt plug the controller into the Wii.

After a few matches and an even win-lose count between the both of them, Matt leaned back and stretched. "I'm a little thirsty." He murmured, Nate getting up instantly.   
"Yeah, so am I. Just a second, I'll go grab a glass--"  
"Nate, hold on." 

He turned around to see Matt standing as well. He felt the other catch his wrist, and place his fingers under his chin--

Nate staggered a bit, but he felt Matt pull on his wrist, steadying him once again before the brunet pulled away, Nate himself left in absolute shock. 

"I--"

Matt leaned in close and rested his head on Nate's shoulder for a second before leaning back again and removing the flower crown above his head and placing it on top of Nate's. 

"You look cute like that." Matt smiled warmly, brushing a few strands of hair out of Nate's face.

Nate looked back at Matthew, still a little shocked, but now his chest was filled with... something. Attraction? Endearment?

"... I love you, Nate. Did you know that? I came to really like you these past few weeks, you know? Despite us being the strangest pair to ever have been formed, I mean..." Matt let a hand brush over Nate's shoulder, gesturing to his black v-neck t-shirt, black hoodie, and jeans before gesturing to his pastel pink cardigan and collared shirt, and white jeans. "I... understand if you don't have any words or if you feel weird, it's certainly weird for m--"

Nate tackled Matt down onto the couch again, smiling greatly.  _Let's be real,_ he thought to himself.  _I know I love you too._  

He pecked Matthew on the cheek quickly, feeling a giddy, bubbly feeling fill his chest next. No lie, he too had formed some feelings for Matthew these couple of weeks. He couldn't  _help_ but feel like a kid in a candy store. Matt was cute, and the way he dressed was cute, and the way he laughed was cute, and everything he did, the way he went so in depth about things he was passionate about, the few theatre performances and monologue rehearsals he'd seen--

"I-I love you too." Nate said gently, rolling onto the couch beside Matt. 

Matt gazed back at the blushing Nathan, messy hair falling over his face and flower crown askew. He decided he thought it was cute as he sat back up, watching Nate sit back up as well.

"... Should, we, uh... should we go get the water now?" Matt asked, brushing hair out of Nate's face and fixing the flower crown.   
"... Yeah, we probably should." 

Nate smiled at Matt like he never had before, and Matt smiled back. Nate fixed a strand of hair in the way of Matt's face and grinned, too. 

Nate got up and removed the hoodie around his waist and laid it over the couch, Matt removing his own cardigan. He stopped for a bit before he picked up Nate's hoodie and wrapping it around himself, smiling. The gaze in his eyes told Nate everything. 

Nate rolled his eyes and took Matt's  _incredibly soft_ pink cardigan, taking delight in how  _soft_ it was on his arms.

"Okay, okay. Let's actually go get that water now."

 

 

 


End file.
